


Take It Now or Leave It

by Kittendiamore



Series: Voulez-vous [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Auguste is alive, M/M, Rare Pairings, Sequel, The regent was never born
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:42:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21808381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittendiamore/pseuds/Kittendiamore
Summary: Auguste looks thrown. “Are you-- do you like him?”“Stop making that face,” Laurent hisses.
Relationships: Laurent/Nikandros (Captive Prince)
Series: Voulez-vous [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571428
Comments: 18
Kudos: 283





	Take It Now or Leave It

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the anon on tumblr who messaged me to essentially tell me it'd cure my writer's block to continue this verse. I was like "you're only telling me this so I'll write for you" except then I actually did write for you, so you got me, I guess. Nice one.

Laurent storms over to his brother and pulls him away. “Auguste, I need to speak with you.”

“What is it?” Auguste asks.

“What is it! Did you see Nikandros this morning?”

“You know I did. We were both at breakfast with him.”

Laurent exhales petulantly. He impatiently pushes the flyaway hairs in front of his face away. “He barely acknowledged me.”

Auguste’s look is incredulous. “He did! He said good morning and asked if you were well.”

“Well he showed me nothing of the same courtesy when he snuck out of my bed this morning, while I slept, as if I were a common whore.”

Auguste’s brow furrows, and he looks away contemplatively. “Laurent,” he says, carefully. “You know this alliance is important to us. But if you feel he has caused us a great insult then I will challenge him.”

“I don’t want you to duel him.”

“Then what do you want?”

Laurent crosses his arms. It takes him a long moment to build up the ability to answer truthfully. “I just want to know what I’m doing wrong. I’m a Prince. I thought something was-- I let him into my bed. And he acts as if we are barely acquaintances.”

Auguste looks thrown. “Are you-- do you like him?”

“Stop making that face,” Laurent hisses.

“He won’t-” Auguste shakes his head. “He is loyal to Akielos. He will not follow you back to Arles, and I will not leave you here.”

“It’s not nearly that serious.”

“You usually give up these silly games once you’ve lured your target into bed.”

“It’s not like that,” Laurent sighs. “Will you just help me? How do you get all those women to forget about our taboos and let you keep bedding them? What tricks do you use?”

“I don’t...women,” Auguste attempts, awkwardly.

“Please,” Laurent says, shaking his head. “You are terrible at deception. I’m the only reason you haven’t been tossed off the throne yet.”

“I--”

When Auguste gets surprised like this, he’s usually hard to communicate with for a while. “Just give me advice. How do you make them like you?”

“I talk to them,” Auguste says, quietly. “I take an interest in their opinions and their likes. I let them know they are important to me.”

“Why can’t he be the one letting me know I’m important?” Laurent thinks of when he was a child and he used to stomp his foot during tantrums. It’s unfair that he was expected to grow out of that action when it would be so useful right now. “I received gifts from both Akielon Princes and I still turned to him. He should be overwhelmed with gratitude.”

“Oh,” Auguste says. “I got something from Damianos too.”

“What?” Laurent shakes his head. “No, never mind. You prefer women.”

“Yes,” Auguste agrees, unconvincingly.

“Auguste!”

“Don’t judge me,” Auguste says. “You’ve seen what he looks like.”

“I hate this kingdom,” Laurent growls. No longer in the mood for more terrible advice from his brother, Laurent turns away and heads back inside.

-

If Laurent has to describe it, it’s as if Nikandros is being extremely polite. They shared at least three orgasms each last night and Nikandros is being polite. It’s outrageous. He should be starry eyed, and following Laurent around and dreaming of the chance for another go. 

Instead, Nikandros says, “That’s a good point,” at the latest royal meeting of Important Treaty Things, “but have you considered the long term consequences regarding the farmers on the border?”

Nikandros shouldn’t be able to think of words, much less put several of them together in a valid critique of Laurent’s proposal. 

Laurent frowns. He has to up his game.

-

“So,” Laurent says, “Damianos. I hear you’ve shown an interest in my brother.”

“Please call me Damen,” Damianos replies, earnestly. 

“Sure,” Laurent says, “But to the point: you want to fuck my brother.”

“I think he’s an exceptional person,” Damen says. “So are you.”

“How do you go about expressing your interest to someone in Akielos? I’m interested in your courting techniques. From a cultural perspective.”

“Ah,” Damianos smiles, full dimples. “This is about Nikandros.”

“No,” Laurent says, immediately. He flushes. He can control his own words and expressions but has unfortunately not mastered his blood flow yet. One day he will overcome his natural predisposition to blushing. “Why do you say that? Has he said something?”

“You haven’t been very subtle this past month,” Damen replies.

Laurent can’t help the frustrated noise he makes at that. So Nikandros isn’t even talking about him? He didn’t tell his close friend about the athletic sex he’d had with a literal prince the night before? That’s so insulting, Laurent doesn’t even know what to do about it.

“Is he seeing someone?” Laurent asks. “Or betrothed or something?” 

“I think you should have asked that before now,” Damen says, “but no. And I don’t mean to upset you; I truly do think he likes you.”

“Well, he could act like it.” Laurent turns away. He’s going to go make plans or something. Or maybe he can go flirt with someone else, except no, Nikandros is likely to just leave him to it rather than manhandle him off to bed in a fit of jealous passion. Noble Akielon bullshit is the worst. “By the way,” Laurent says, because he’s annoyed and also feeling bitchy, “Auguste prefers women.”

“So do I,” Damen calls after him, and he’s laughing still.

-

In the afternoon, the Akielon soldiers are all throwing each other around and being brutes (alongside Auguste, who is acting disturbingly close with Damianos), while Laurent sits in the shade and watches. Getting a small glimpse of the strength that Akielos has is a reminder to Laurent about how important good relations with the kingdom is. Vere is formidable, but they simply don’t have the armies that Akielos does.

“Not interested in showing off?” Nikandros says, coming to sit next to Laurent. He sits on the edge of Laurent’s shade, so that he’s in full sunlight. His beautiful olive skin must be maintained after all. It’s especially vexing that he just appears right now, when Laurent’s finally given up on looking for him for the day.

“I prefer to be underestimated.”

Nikandros looks at him. “You duelled me.”

“For a purpose.”

There’s a brief moment where they simply gaze at each other, then Nikandros smiles and shakes his head. 

“Here,” Nikandros says, holding out a pile of papers.

Laurent takes them and looks.

“You made some good points in the meeting earlier,” Nikandros continues. “These are copies of some old documents from the Artesian empire. They’re very informative on how things used to run, and you seem interested in history.”

Most men give Laurent jewels or clothes, or --when it’s paper -- it’s love letters and books of romantic poetry. Nikandros has given him an unbound stack of dry historical treatises and trade routes. Laurent blinks. There’s an odd pressure in his chest.

“Thank you,” he says, finally.

“The sun is moving,” Nikandros points to where Laurent’s knee is being illuminated. “You should get a hat if you’re going to spend so much time outside.”

“Oh? I didn’t know your kingdom was aware of apparel beyond rolling yourselves in bedsheets.”

Nikandros stands up. “Would you like to come into the markets with me?” He offers Laurent a hand. 

Laurent takes it.

-

“Laurent, do you-- what are you wearing?” Auguste looks horrified.

“How dare you,” Laurent replies, deadpan. “This is the latest fashion in Vere.” 

This is a lie. His new hat is an oversized feathered monstrosity that Laurent only bought because he’d seen the look of horror on Nikandros’ face upon sight of it, and so of course Laurent had been forced to proclaim it the height of fashion.

“Laurent,” Auguste says, after Laurent explains why he needs Auguste to pretend he likes the hat, “you are aware that you can’t just irritate someone into liking you?”

-

The next day, Nikandros gifts him a necklace. It’s a horrible clunky thing that’s covered in feathers and looks like it was made by an infant who closed their eyes the whole time. “To go with your lovely hat,” he says, completely straight faced.

“Thank you,” Laurent replies, equally without expression. “I love it.”

-

Aside from the trip to the markets, and the gifts, Nikandros hasn’t shown much interest in getting to bed him again. He’s perfectly respectful at all meals that they share, and he inquires into Laurent’s opinion on things that aren’t even slight innuendos. Laurent doesn’t get it. After three days of this, he gets fed up and figures out which rooms are Nikandros’.

“You took your time,” Laurent says, when Nikandros finally opens the door.

Nikandros blinks. “You broke into my rooms,” he says. Which is pretty obvious at this point.

Laurent is sitting on the bed, adorned in a long, elaborately embroidered blue cloak. It falls to his shins, where his impeccably polished, laced up riding boots are visible. Laurent wore them specifically for the heel. He needs a little extra height in this overgrown kingdom. Rather than reply verbally, Laurent spreads his legs a little. The cloak falls open just enough to make it clear that he’s not wearing pants.

It’s gratifying to watch Nikandros’ expression change when he realises. He takes a step towards Laurent automatically. 

“It’s very warm here,” Laurent says. “I was wondering if you’d help me with this cloak.”

Nikandros lifts a hand to the single tie at Laurent’s neck. Even a barbarian can’t fuck that up. He pulls it and the knot unravels. Nikandros pushes the cloak off of Laurent’s shoulders, and then… he starts laughing.

“Well, that’s not usually the reaction I get in such situations,” Laurent says, false haughtily, and makes to stand up.

“No, no,” Nikandros says, through his laughter. He puts his hands on Laurent and pushes him back down onto the bed. “You look wonderful. No need for any ruffled feathers.”

Laurent is clad in only his tall riding boots, and the hideous feathered necklace that Nikandros gifted him. “I look wonderful?”

Nikandros nods, and kisses Laurent, very oddly, on the tip of his nose. “Incredibly.”

“That’s good to know,” Laurent says. “I can’t wait to wear this necklace to dinner tomorrow and let everyone know how thoughtful you are.”

This time Nikandros kisses him on the mouth. “That’s a good plan,” he says, against Laurent’s mouth, “What a shame that it’s going to get all messed up tonight.”

“How? Are you going to come on my chest?”

“Only if you’re good.”

Laurent is very good.

-

The next morning, Laurent wakes up in Nikandros’ bed alone.

“What the fuck?” he murmurs. He sits up and looks around. The room is empty. The space next to him on the bed is cold. 

Waking up alone the first morning, Laurent can understand. It would have been awkward for Nikandros to wake up in a Prince’s quarters or something, sure. But this is Nikandros’ bedroom. This is where he sleeps. And he slept with Laurent and then what? Snuck out early so that they wouldn’t have to see each other or acknowledge that they were sleeping together? What the fuck? Laurent has no idea how to explain this and he is furious.

He’s the one who kicks people out in the morning! Laurent gets out of bed and looks down at his cloak and his boots, which suddenly seems like a stupid idea in the light of day, and he decides that no -- he isn’t going to go back to his room and dress and pretend like nothing happened. He’s going to go confront Nikandros and find out what is going on.

He grabs a couple of pins off the dresser, and steals a rectangle of cloth from inside it and fashions himself a haphazard but secure enough chiton. Fuck shoes, he thinks. He steps out of the room and runs into Orlant, who clearly figured out where Laurent was and put himself on guard.

“Where is the Kyros?” Laurent hisses.

Orlant takes a step back. “Um, the training grounds?”

Laurent storms down the hall. Orlant tries to call after him but Laurent is not in the mood to answer to his own guard. 

When he gets to the training grounds, Nikandros is there, watching the soldiers run drills. He’s not even dueling anyone or anything. He left bed to come stand here and watch other men fight.

“Andras,” Nikandros calls out to one of the men, “Watch your left.” Then he looks across the field and his gaze falls on Laurent. He has the gall to smile, almost sweetly, as if pleased to see him. Nikandros walks across the grounds to meet him in the middle.

“Did you sleep well?” Nikandros asks.

“You would know,” Laurent replies archly, “if you’d stayed for long enough for me to wake up.”

A crease appears on Nikandros’ brow. “I had to run this morning’s drills,” he says, apologetically. “I asked your guard to inform you. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“And the first morning? In my chambers.” Laurent has to stop himself from crossing his arms, he doesn’t want to look like he feels vulnerable.

“You are a prince,” Nikandros says. “I would never presume I had the right to stay in your room without your permission.” He takes a step towards Laurent, so that he has to look up at him. “Are you cross with me?”

Laurent really wants to stamp his foot now. He’s trying to be furious here, and Nikandros is just standing there being reasonable. “I’m just tired of chasing after you with no idea of how you feel,” Laurent says. “I can’t read you. I don’t understand you. I like you so much and I want to know what I’m doing wrong; why am I the only one losing my mind over this?”

He definitely does not mean to say all that.

Nikandros, for his part, looks a little wide eyed. 

“Prince Laurent,” he says, hesitantly.

“You’ve had my cock in your mouth, you can drop the title.”

“Laurent,” he tries again. “I’m sorry if I caused you to be uncertain of my intentions…”

Oh fuck, this is a let-down speech.

“It’s fine,” Laurent says, taking a step back. He’ll preserve what dignity he has left, thank you. “It’s fine. I don’t care, anyway. I didn’t-- it was just fun.”

“No!” Nikandros says, and he says it loudly enough that some of the soldiers stop dueling to look over curiously. “I didn’t mean it like that. I thought it was clear that I like you too. I asked your brother how courting worked in Vere and he told me to give you a gift.”

“Auguste said that?”

“Well,” Nikandros amends, “after he finished threatening to kill me, I believe his exact words were ‘just give him what he wants’. I’ve been trying to get to know you better, so that I could guess at what kind of things you like.”

Laurent’s cheeks are pink. He can feel it. “He meant that you should fuck me.”

Nikandros blinks. “Ah.”

“You were courting me?”

“I’d like to still be courting you, if that’s alright with you?”

“You actually like me?”

“Of course I do.” Nikandros gives him a querying look, as if he doesn’t understand why Laurent would say that. “You’re kind, and intelligent, and strong. And if I’m being honest, I liked it a little too much when you bested me during our duel.”

“Yes, I was vaguely aware of that.” 

Nikandros smiles at him. “Am I forgiven? Or do I need to list more of your virtues?”

Laurent smiles back. “Most men just talk about how pretty I am.”

“Plenty of people are beautiful,” Nikandros says. “That doesn’t mean they’re worth knowing.”

“So you like me despite my looks?”

Nikandros smiles. “You sound so offended.”

“Do you know how long it takes me to dress in the morning?”

“No,” Nikandros says,. “But I’d be interested in seeing how long it takes you to undress.” 

“I’ll be going back to Arles in less than a month.” 

Nikandros reaches out and puts a hand against Laurent’s neck. Laurent wonders if he can feel his pulse. “I’ll be going back to Delpha soon, too. May I write you?”

Slowly, Laurent nods. “I was thinking of doing border duty,” he tells him.

“I often take men up to check on the border.”

“Yes,” Laurent says, finally. He feels quite warm, and he’s not sure he can blame it entirely on the weather. “You may write me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Voulez-vous by ABBA. I am @nikanndros on tumblr, and I stayed up until 4am writing this.


End file.
